Evaluating the Impact of Sleep Deprivation on Cognitive Performance

Researchers are examining the impact of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance. They conduct an experiment where 60 college students are randomly assigned to two groups: one group is allowed to sleep for 8 hours, while the other group is restricted to 4 hours of sleep. After the sleep manipulation, both groups complete a cognitive task that measures attention and reaction time. The researchers analyze the results and report that the group with 4 hours of sleep had significantly longer reaction times compared to the group with 8 hours of sleep, with a p-value of 0.01.

Based on this study:

1. Discuss the importance of random assignment in this experiment.
2. Explain what a p-value represents in the context of this study.
3. Critically evaluate the conclusions drawn by the researchers, considering potential confounding variables that may not have been controlled for.